Defending champion Peterhansel and two times winner Masuoka on track
2004 Dakar Bike winner Roma and Frenchman Alphand join the team
Support role for German lady driver Mayer and her new co-driver Polato

Tokyo, December 7, 2004 -- The Mitsubishi Motors Repsol ATS Studios Team has
entered five cars in the 2005 Dakar Rally, as it bids to become the first
team in history to win five successive Dakar rallies and clinch a
record-breaking 10 overall victories.

The Mitsubishi Motors team has not been beaten on the gruelling African
event since the Millennium and has entered a team of four Mitsubishi
Pajero/Montero Evolutions and a single Mitsubishi L200 Pick-Up for the
16-day event, starting in Barcelona, Spain, on New Year's Day and finishing
in Dakar, Senegal, on January 16th, 2005.

Mitsubishi Motors Repsol ATS Studios Team presentation: the team members pose.

Photo by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.

Spearheading the team's challenge are the defending champion Stephane
Peterhansel and the Japanese twice former winner Hiroshi Masuoka.
Peterhansel teams up with regular co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret, while Masuoka
is reunited with Germany's Andreas Schulz, with whom he won the event in
2003.

Completing the official team line-up are the Spanish newcomers Joan 'Nani'
Roma, Frenchman Luc Alphand along with Germany's Andrea Mayer, and their
respective co-drivers Henri Magne, Gilles Picard and Jean-Michel Polato.

Peterhansel won no less than six Dakar titles during an illustrious career
as a motorcycle rider, also became only the second individual in the 27-year
history of the event to win outright on both two and four wheels last
January. Masuoka won outright in 2002 and 2003 and finished as the runner-up
last year.

"We have carried out a lot of testing with the car since the last Dakar
Rally," said Peterhansel. "I won both the Tunisia and Morocco rallies with
the Pajero/Montero Evolution MPR10 and we were delighted with the
performance of the new MPR11 during the recent competitive test in the UAE
Desert Challenge. The revised car is more stable in the dunes and over fast
ground, has more torque than the MPR10 and should be more competitive on
this year's Dakar."

"It has been a quiet year for me in terms of competition since the Dakar
Rally," said Masuoka. "One of my goals was to win the UAE Desert Challenge
and I achieved that at my sixth attempt in October. That was a great result
for my confidence. The team has tested the revised car in Morocco and there
have been some marked improvements. I am confident that I can take my third
Dakar victory.

Team newcomer Joan Roma won the 2004 Dakar Rally at the helm of a factory
KTM motorcycle. He joins the Mitsubishi Motors team for the first time with
Andorra-based Henri Magne, one of the most experienced of all the
cross-country co-drivers and the winner of last year's FIA World Cup and
this year's FIA European Baja Cup.

Roma drove a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution for the first time in
September during the Morocco test and additionally after the UAE Desert
Challenge also testing in the Middle East. At the end of November he will
enter the Qatar Baja driving the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero to gain as much
pre-event experience as possible. He has entered the Dakar on numerous
occasions on a motorcycle. The start in Barcelona will mark only his second
event with the Mitsubishi Motors team and his first behind the wheel of a
Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution.

"This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for me to join Mitsubishi Motors
for the Dakar," said Roma. "I have witnessed the successful transition that
Stephane and Andrea have made from motorcycle riding to rallying on four
wheels and hope that I can repay the team with a good result."

Luc Alphand was a World Downhill skiiing champion, before he became involved
in cross-country rallying. The Frenchman was the first driver in history to
win a stage of the Dakar in a diesel-engined car and joins Mitsubishi Motors
for his team premiere after taking victories last year on the Baja Spain and
Baja Germany events. He finished fourth overall in the 2004 Dakar Rally with
co-driver Henri Magne.

"Mitsubishi Motors was always the team that I was trying to beat on rounds
of the World Cup and the Dakar," said Alphand. "I am proud to be a part of
the team now and feel confident that I can be one of the front-runners in
the Dakar."

German lady Andrea Mayer joined the official Mitsubishi Motors factory team
in 2003 and finished the 2004 Dakar Rally fifth overall in a Mitsubishi
Pajero/Montero. She tackled the recent UAE Desert Challenge in a Ralliart
customer development car and she returns for the Dakar at the wheel of the
L200 Pick-Up in which she finished 10th overall in June's Rally of Morocco.

Mayer teams up with Frenchman Jean-Michel Polato for the first time. Polato
co-drove in the Mitsubishi Motors Portugal team during 2001 Dakar Rally for
Carlos Sousa. He partnered Ralliart customer Nicolas Misslin during the 2003
Tunisia and Morocco rallies in a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero MPR9.

"It has been an excellent learning year for me," said Mayer. "I was running
as high as fifth overall in the recent UAE Desert Challenge and have worked
with the team throughout the 2004 season. The L200 Pick-Up is a competitive
car and I hope to achieve a good result on the Dakar. I have a crucial
support role to play for the team and that is the most important factor."

"We have worked tirelessly to ensure that the revised Mitsubishi
Pajero/Montero Evolution stays at the forefront of development and
competitiveness," said MMSP's Team Director Dominique Serieys. "We have put
together a team for the Dakar, which offers a balance of experience and
speed and I am confident that we can fulfil the goal of a 10th Dakar win and
continue the overall winning streak we started in 2001."

"I was impressed with the professionalism of the entire team when I saw
everyone working in extreme conditions in the UAE Desert Challenge for the
first time in October," said Isao Torii, the new President of MMSP. "I am
confident that they can deliver the goals we are looking for and wish
everyone every success for the Dakar."

Spain will play host to the Dakar Rally for the fourth time - the event
started from Granada in 1995, 1996 and 1999. The starting venue will be
Spain's second city Barcelona. The major conurbation in Catalunya also
witnessed the passing of the Dakar Rally in 1987 and 1989.

Scruitineering and documentation take place in Barcelona on December
28th-29th, before a Prologue stage on New Year's Eve. On New Year's Day the
event gets underway from the Plaza de Espana and heads south for two timed
sections en route to Granada.

Over the following 16 days the capacity entry heads into Morocco, through
the Sahel and into the depths of the Mauritanian Sahara, before a rest day
at the town of Atar. From there the planned route heads across the
Mauritanian wilderness en route to the Republic of Mali and a traditional
finish beside Lac Rose, near Dakar, in Senegal on January 16th 2005.

There will be only limited GPS points made available to competitors, one or
more stages without GPS and two Marathon stages where service assistance is
not permitted.